Legoland California Help

[scotts]

So my wife and I just (literally) booked a trip to Carlsbad and we're going to make a stop at LegoLand California with our 3 month old. So a question to you Legofornains, where would the cheapest place be to get tickets to Legoland? Directly through Lego with a set date seems to be the best price at $155.20 (after discount) with a second day free, not sure if there are better options. Also is the Sealife aquarium (as our second day) worth a visit?

[lemus]

I suggest you go to the Bricklink forum and ask for ash, he is the expert on LLC visits.
He is a Mod there so he is likely to respond right away.
Or contact him via his BL store.
http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=ash_274" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[zak001]

It's easy to do Legoland in a day, especially when you're not traveling with a kid who wants to go on every ride. Most of the attractions are targeted at young children, but not THAT young; a 3-month old won't be allowed on much of anything, so if you and your wife want to do any rides you're going to have to do so as single riders and hand the child off. Fortunately there's not much in the way of thrill rides that are thrilling there; to me Miniland is the main draw.

You can blow through Sealife in half an hour - it's not worth booking an extra day for and it's debatable whether it's worth the ticket upgrade fee. (I'm sure there are people who can spend more than 90 minutes there, but, I mean, I like Lego, I like aquariums, it still gets old fast.)

[lego the hutt]

I have family that lives 15 mins from there and I have been there only to purchase lego. If you buy tickets they will refund your money if you spend an hour or less, just so you can shop...(I've said an hour is long enough for me to run and check out star wars land!...but I haven't ever actually done that)

The one tip I have if you are trying to save some money, park on the hill. It's one street over from the parking lot but you have to drive a few mins past some office buildings (it's the first right before you turn into the parking lot).

There is a pedestrian gate. It is less than a 5 min walk to the entrance and you don't have to pay the parking fee. (it actually might be closer than parking in the furthest corners of the parking lot).

I learned about that area because a Legoland employee mentioned I could park on the hill if I just wanted to go in to shop to save the parking fee. (though if you spend over a certain amount in the hour they refund your parking fee as well...its just easier to park on the hill)

[dehnehsu]

Regarding the 1 hour Shoppers Pass. From the website "If you spend more than $20 while in the Park during your one hour, the parking fee will be refunded when you present your paid parking ticket at the Guest Services window." So it's only a minimum $20 purchase to get the parking waived. (Parking costs $15) Thanks lego the hut for the free Parking tip! I'm guessing the free hill parking is only for the short term and not all day?

Another thing to know is they might close Legoland if it rains (heavy rain), so be sure to check the weather forecast!

[lego the hutt]

Regarding the 1 hour Shoppers Pass. From the website "If you spend more than $20 while in the Park during your one hour, the parking fee will be refunded when you present your paid parking ticket at the Guest Services window." So it's only a minimum $20 purchase to get the parking waived. (Parking costs $15) Thanks lego the hut for the free Parking tip! I'm guessing the free hill parking is only for the short term and not all day?

Another thing to know is they might close Legoland if it rains (heavy rain), so be sure to check the weather forecast!

As far as the parking goes I have only ever parked there for a couple hours but I don't see why you couldn't park all day. I always parked along the street. It's just general free parking.

Ya, it's a 20$ purchase in an hour or less to get the parking fee waived. It's just easier to park along the street and not have to worry about the extra hassle (the few times I've been there the parking lot is packed and street parking is quick and easy). It is hit or miss whether I found anything I wanted to buy, especially for me living in Oregon (no tax), so everything was 8% higher than normal msrp to start.

I did find some of those monster fighter figure halloween packs months after halloween (late december) that were nice to see on one occasion.

[atmail35]

Can someone give a rundown of the different shops at Legoland Calif. and how does the pick-a-brick works...do you fill a container or is it by weight?

What are must buys there? Are there items that you can't find at regular LEGO Brand Stores?

We are thinking of going for 1 day over the summer and my time might be limited as we need to do the park and get shopping done!

How about the new hotel...I see it opens April 5th...anyone have plans to stay there? I'd love to see a review. It looks pretty cool based on the website.

Thanks!

[cmrt1014]

Can someone give a rundown of the different shops at Legoland Calif. and how does the pick-a-brick works...do you fill a container or is it by weight?

What are must buys there? Are there items that you can't find at regular LEGO Brand Stores?

We are thinking of going for 1 day over the summer and my time might be limited as we need to do the park and get shopping done!

How about the new hotel...I see it opens April 5th...anyone have plans to stay there? I'd love to see a review. It looks pretty cool based on the website.

Thanks!

Ash over on Bricklnk would be the expert on most of your questions. Here's an overview of what I remember from my visits:

PAB is in the Club House at the back of the park. It is by weight (~$32.?? a lb $7.99 1/4 lb). The content varies quite a bit - I've had luck sometimes with asking to have some brought from the back. It's been a big container of mixed parts somewhat by color. The Club House also has a BAM bar that again varies. This shop also has a soda bar and popcorn.

The Big Shop is right in the front gate - as it's name implies, it is a huge shop with a lot of stuff. I've found some stuff that wasn't available elsewhere - I love LL - and they usually have some sort of sale going on.

Not to be missed is the "Candy" shop ( Its real name is Minifigure Market, but they sell jelly beans there as well, so that's what I always think of them as) - on the other side of the entrance. I've found some good stuff there (most recently, a minfig display set free with a BAM purchase). This is also an important place to know as if you have your packages held for you (always a good idea if you're doing the park!) this is the pick up location.

The Studio Tour has mostly sets based on movies - Star Wars, HP, LOTR. It's worth checking out as sometimes there are sets here that other locations have sold out of.

There are a couple of other spots - they tend to be smaller, and more specialized. I do check them out, but am not as likely to make a purchase.

As far as must buys, the only thing that I've found unique to LL are the I love LL key chain and magnet sets. Sometimes they have sets that are no longer available elsewhere, or sooner than elsewhere, but I've not found any other exclusives.

One other note: Granny's Apple Fries is a location not to be missed. These are addicting - I limit myself to one per day at the park!

Have a great time!

Christina

[scotts]

I'll post here what I posted on Bricklink.

I want to thank everyone for all the advice, we got back from our trip yesterday
and we had a great time! Legoland was fantastic, we ended up spending all day
Monday there and I picked up a few sets. I ended up with TMNT Baxter (79105),
Kingdoms Chess (853373), Castle Battle Packs (852922 & 852921), 2 Frodo Cooking
Corner (30210), Halloween Accessory Set (850487), Gandalf Arrives (9467), LotR
Magnets, Legoland Magnet, Legoland Keychain, Batman Keychain, 3 Pack custom minifigs
(modeled after my wife, son and I), Christmas wreath and Stocking (We buy Ornaments
from places we go to) and a Legoland scrap booking set. It's funny because the
3 sets I had planned on buying (Joust, Shelob and Orc Forge) weren't available.
I ended up getting Joust from a Lego store and the other 2 from Target.

I have to say my favorite part was "minifig land". The replica's of all the buildings
are fantastic as well as the Star wars section. We also had my sons name painted
in Star Wars themed letters and a family caricatures portrait of the three of
us which looks fantastic! I can't wait until my son is older (along with however
many more kids we have) so I can take them back and they can experience what
a fantastic place Legoland is.

[zak001]

Legoland has a lot of shops, but many are just glorified kiosks with sets from one or two themes. It's worth poking your nose in at most of them, though, because occasionally you'll find a retired set that's not stocked in the main shop or notice a blowout deal on something small that you might not have seen at the mothership location.

There are park maps and show schedules available at the entrance; check them when you get in for special offers like freebies with purchase. Sadly I think the deal where you buy a minifig display kit and get a free set of build-a-minis has passed. (Also sadly, the last few times I've been through there have been no minifig accessories available, and before that it was extremely limited; you could have a fire axe or a coffee cup.)

The two must-visits are:

The Big Shop - in the entrance plaza. Bigger than most Lego brand stores, with a sizable assortment of park merch, a broad and up-to-date selection of current sets from every theme, and lots of Lego-branded tchotchkes (ice cube trays! pencil cups!). The only place in the park to buy large exclusive sets like modulars. Usually has a smattering of polybags and battle packs that are no longer available at retail anywhere else, and some deeply discounted keychains and magnet sets. Sometimes has good deals (30-50% off) on overstocked sets that are near EOL. Early in the day, employees are happy to help you locate something that might be available elsewhere in the park, but this place is absolutely thronged at closing time; they also tend to be too busy to re-stock then.

Lego Clubhouse - at the back of the park, connected to the "factory" tour. Small selection of sets and polybags, custom brick engraving, and pick-a-brick by the pound. Nice in that you don't have to waste any park time packing cups, but you pay through the nose for it - $9.99 for 1/4lb, $39.96 a pound. Not the dizzying array of elements you'd hope for given the price, and it's rather poorly lit, which doesn't make identifying what's in the 28 bins of black any easier, but it does give you more options than your average PaB wall. It's mostly common colors, maybe 10% rare colors or unusual elements. Infrequent specials where you can buy 1 pound, get 1/2 a pound free.

[atmail35]

Thank you everyone for all the great info! $40 a pound, wow. When I weight my last small pick a brick box, it was 13 ounces, by Legoland standards it would have cost about $32! it's a good thing I have a weight limit on our suitcases anyway!

It does sound like you can get some older sets/polys and unique souvenirs, which would be nice. Since we have to fly, I won't be buying anything really large anyway.

I might be back later with questions on the actual park/ride/attraction side of things.